I was going to suggest that you try a humidifier in the room. Or if you don't have one, a few big bowls or pans of water in the room. Have you ever wanted an aquarium? That would also add humidity to the room.
I would probably not put anything wet directly on the cardboard.
But maybe you could...
Start by letting them grow for a few weeks.
Here is a thread with a lot of information. Partway down the first post is a discussion of sexing:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/coturnix-quail-basics-information-and-pictures-galore.102281/
Basics are:
--some varieties are color-sexable...
Given the mixing of breeds, yes, they certainly could have different growth patterns, especially as regards how quickly the feathers grow.
But I think that particular barred one probably is male (the one on the right, more white/less black than the barred one just to its left).
The reason I...
That makes sense. I can see why some people would be concerned about that.
Apparently some domestic chickens are quite happy to eat intestines.
For example, here's a post where someone mentions feeding intestines back to chickens...
Why not?
There are plenty of stories about chickens eating whole mice. That obviously includes the intestines too. No-one is removing the internal organs from bugs, either.
What problems are you worried about with the intestines from other animals?
If you want even more celadons in future, you could put any extra celadon males with normal females. Their daughters will lay normal-colored eggs, but carry the gene for celadon eggs. Crossing those daughters with celadon males will produce a new generation with about 50% of females laying...
A metal shed with no ventilation will get really hot inside when the sun shines on it. A metal shed with plenty of ventilation will do much better. For an extreme example, think of a shed with only three sides: the roof and three walls provide nice shade, and the open side lets any hot air come...
If you look up advice about keeping backyard chickens, you can find suggestions for how much space each chicken should have in the coop and run. (Example of a common suggestion: 4 or more square feet per chicken in the coop, 10 or more square feet per chicken in the run.)
If you look at the...
If the mothers are actually Ameraucana, I would expect each chick to have a pea comb and muff/beard.
But if the mothers are Ameraucana-mixes, then chicks might have pea or single combs, and they might have muff/beard or clean faces.
If the mothers are "Americanas" (Easter Eggers that are not...
If the three new pullets already know each other, there is a chance of them bullying the pullet you already had. One the other hand, if she is in her familiar coop and they are the newcomers, she might bully them. Or those factors could balance each other out. Or they could be young enough and...
I am not very good at recognizing Silkie colors. All the fluff messes me up :)
The first question there would be, are you trying to produce standard colors of Silkies? If so, most colors work best if you only breed them with their own color. A specific few mix well, for example...
I would say Dominant White is the more versatile one.
Recessive white just makes white over the whole chicken. It does not matter what other color genes the chicken has, two copies of the recessive white gene will turn it completely white.
Dominant white turns black into white.
For a chicken...
I think they are both males, judging by how large and brightly-colored the comb and wattles are.
I think the lacing on both of them is probably splash, but they could have a very light blue instead. For how to tell: by looking, by asking someone else (like you did here), sometimes by knowing...
They're growing nicely!
One definitely has a single comb, but I'm not quite sure about the other one. Barnevelders would definitely have single combs. Any other kind of comb would be a pretty good sign that they are NOT pure Barnevelders.
Easter Eggers might also have single combs, so a single...
I'm glad your hand is fine!
That is very frustrating, when it's late at night and most ways of handing the emotions are just unavailable.
I don't know. There are good points about getting attached to them, but I agree it makes it hard when they have to go.
That is what I was thinking, too. The barred chick is why I originally wondered about the possibility of sexlinks.
But based on the pictures, I can't be sure whether the rooster has barring or not (I'm leaning toward not, but given the amount of white on him, I am really not sure of that.) And...
I hope that means you thought better of the idea, but I'm worried that you may have punched the wall and now have an injured hand!
When I get mentally stuck on things, it helps if I find something else where I can make visible progress, especially if it's physically tiring. It helps even more...
Pretty rooster!
I don't think his rooster's color will let us be sure of the sex of any of the chicks. It's handy when chicks do happen to be sexlinks, but of course non-sexlinks are more common.